Why the Denver Broncos Missed Out on Gardner Minshew

The news that Teddy Bridgewater was named by the Denver Broncos as QB1 did not sit well with everyone in Broncos Country. Many fans feel this spells the beginning of the end for Drew Lock as a Denver Bronco. While time will tell how things shake out with the current quarterbacks, news that QB Gardner Minshew was traded Saturday to the Philadelphia Eagles was not received well by those who felt that the Broncos should have attempted to acquire Minshew from the Jacksonville Jaguars.

The announcement especially stung when it was revealed just how cheap it was for the Philadelphia Eagles to take Minshew off of Jacksonville’s hands now that they have secured their franchise quarterback in Trevor Lawrence.

According to Adam Schefter, Minshew was dealt to the Eagles for a conditional sixth-round pick in 2022, which could be upgraded to a fifth-rounder if Minshew is involved in at least 50% of Philadelphia’s offensive plays in 2021.

While, between Jalen Hurts, former Bronco Joe Flacco, and now Gardner Minshew in Philly’s QBs room, it will remain to be seen who will be the victor in that bottle. However, for such a low price tag, it feels like there is no reason that Denver could not have made the same deal with the Jaguars to amp up the QB competition.

While Gardner Minshew was sidelined for much of 2020 with a thumb injury, the time he has spent on the field left Jags fans excited and much of the NFL dazzled. In his career, Minshew has thrown for 5,530 pass yards and has a touchdown to interception ratio of 37:11. While Minshew’s sample size is still relatively small, Minshew burst onto the NFL scene and quickly became a household name and touted very high potential.

Though Gardner Minshew would have been coming in with injury history, with how well he has played in his short time in the NFL, it feels as if the Denver Broncos have made a mistake by not winning the Minshew sweepstakes, or perhaps not even really playing. While who is the better man for the QB1 job in Denver is largely subjective, if Drew Lock was unable to win the sweepstakes outright, Denver should have been on the lookout for another quarterback to bring in.

While Teddy Bridgewater may surprise people, his history of being unable to provide big chunk yardage concerns fans. On the opposite spectrum, Drew Lock being unable to win the quarterback competition concerns fans that the Broncos may begin to look for trade destinations for the young quarterback.

If that were the case, Teddy Bridgewater would be the starter and Brett Rypien would be the #2. Regardless of opinion on Bridgewater, that is not the most ideal quarterback room. While it is likely that the Broncos will keep Lock on the roster and re-consider their options depending on how the first two weeks of the regular season go, Gardner Minshew would have brought an element of explosiveness and consistency to the quarterback position and to the offense as a whole.

Bold prediction– had the Denver Broncos acquired Gardner Minshew, it is likely that he would have beat out both Drew Lock and Teddy Bridgewater to be the starting quarterback against the Giants Week One.

However, at this point, all that can be done is consider the what-ifs. While Minshew’s price tag is largely the reason it feels that the Broncos whiffed, the possibility exists that his value would have been raised by the Jaguars if trading to another team within their conference. This is also hypothetical, but, for now, as the quarterback carousel in Denver continues to spin, the feeling lingers in the air that the Denver Broncos may have missed out big time in not acquiring Gardner Minshew.

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